Elon poll measures opinions on teacher pay, handgun restrictions

By Molly McGowan / Times-News

Published: Friday, September 20, 2013 at 04:02 PM.

ELON – Despite party affiliation, most registered voters in North Carolina believe teacher pay is too low, over half agree there should be more handgun restrictions, and almost three quarters support the new law requiring a valid photo ID to vote, according to the latest Elon University Poll.

Poll results outlined voters’ reactions to laws passed by the N.C. General Assembly over the summer, based on the university’s live-caller, dual frame landline and cell phone survey of 701 registered voters, which was conducted from Sept. 13 to Sept. 16, and has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

“Not surprisingly, support and opposition for specific policies often split down partisan lines, but there were a few things that Democrats, Republicans and independents could clearly agree on,” said Assistant Professor Kenneth Fernandez, director of the Elon University Poll.

“Those include required drug testing for welfare benefits, wind energy, no guns in bars, and that teachers are paid too little,” he said in the release.

A little more than half of poll respondents agreed with the statement that there should be more legal restrictions on handguns in society, a number supported by Democrats and African Americans each at 81 percent and women at 64 percent.

That said, men weren’t as sold on the idea, with 58 percent disagreeing with the need for more restrictions. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans and 54 percent of whites also disagreed.

Respondents were more like-minded regarding changes to the state’s concealed carry laws, made when Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation passed this summer. Overall, 53 percent disagreed with allowing concealed carry permit holders to carry their guns in playgrounds and public parks.

ELON – Despite party affiliation, most registered voters in North Carolina believe teacher pay is too low, over half agree there should be more handgun restrictions, and almost three quarters support the new law requiring a valid photo ID to vote, according to the latest Elon University Poll.

Poll results outlined voters’ reactions to laws passed by the N.C. General Assembly over the summer, based on the university’s live-caller, dual frame landline and cell phone survey of 701 registered voters, which was conducted from Sept. 13 to Sept. 16, and has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

“Not surprisingly, support and opposition for specific policies often split down partisan lines, but there were a few things that Democrats, Republicans and independents could clearly agree on,” said Assistant Professor Kenneth Fernandez, director of the Elon University Poll.

“Those include required drug testing for welfare benefits, wind energy, no guns in bars, and that teachers are paid too little,” he said in the release.

A little more than half of poll respondents agreed with the statement that there should be more legal restrictions on handguns in society, a number supported by Democrats and African Americans each at 81 percent and women at 64 percent.

That said, men weren’t as sold on the idea, with 58 percent disagreeing with the need for more restrictions. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans and 54 percent of whites also disagreed.

Respondents were more like-minded regarding changes to the state’s concealed carry laws, made when Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation passed this summer. Overall, 53 percent disagreed with allowing concealed carry permit holders to carry their guns in playgrounds and public parks.

Another 73 percent disagreed with allowing them to carry guns into bars. The new laws do, however, give bar owners the option of banning weapons in their businesses.

According to the results, “one of the most polarizing debates in the North Carolina General Assembly,” was over the issue of voter identification, requiring voters show valid government-issued ID to vote.

While 70 percent of respondents supported the new voter identification law, more than half disapproved of the reduction in time given to vote early.

Ninety-four percent of Republicans and 74 percent of independents supported the law, and four out of five white poll respondents also approved of the photo ID requirement.

“Support for a voter ID law has been broad and deep, consistently ranging in the 70 percent or higher across multiple surveys,” Fernandez said. “But this was the first time that the Elon Poll found a majority of Democrats and a majority of African Americans opposing voter identification requirements.”

Fifty-four percent of Democrats opposed the requirement, as did 55 percent of African Americans.

Regarding the reduction in the amount of time given to vote early, 51 percent of all respondents disapproved, compared to 38 percent who supported it. Men and women were almost equal in their levels of disagreement and the strongest disapproval came from African Americans, to the tune of 77 percent.

Forty-three percent of whites supported the time reduction, while 14 percent said they didn’t know how they felt about it.

When it comes to teachers, most voters are in agreement – they’re paid too little.

Four out of five registered North Carolina voters believe teachers aren’t paid enough, compared to 2 percent who feel they’re paid too much and 12 percent who describe teacher pay as “about right.”

Support for more teacher pay was strong across party lines and regardless of gender, race or age, though the belief that teacher pay was too low was strongest among the youngest respondents and dipped in older populations. Nine out of 10 African Americans said teacher pay was “too little” compared to 78 percent of whites.

State lawmakers ended a teacher “tenure” law this summer, which had given public school educators a four-year trial period, after which point they couldn’t be fired except by legal procedure. When asked, 53 percent of respondents supported teacher tenure, while 38 percent opposed the idea of tenure for K-12 teachers.

Democrats and independents offered the strongest support for teacher tenure, at 66 percent and 52 percent, respectively, while 50 percent of Republicans were against it.

Poll respondents were also asked how they perceived the Affordable Care Act and 50 percent said they believed the health care law will worsen the health care situation in the state. Twenty-nine percent believe the law will improve things, and 14 percent don’t think it will make a difference.

Fifty-nine percent of Democrats are optimistic about the Affordable Care Act, while 87 percent of Republicans believe things will get worse. Income slightly affected the results, with 57 percent of those whose annual incomes are greater than $75,000 expecting the law to make the health care situation worse. Forty-one percent whose household incomes are below $25,000 believe the same.

When respondents were asked about energy options, 78 percent said they have heard at least “a little” about the drilling method to extract natural gas from underground rock, known as “fracking,” and of those, 47 percent supported the practice while 40 percent opposed it.

Republicans and men made up the bulk of the 47 percent of respondents in support of increasing the use of nuclear power, but it seemed wind power interested North Carolinians the most. Eighty percent said they supported the construction of wind energy facilities on the state’s coast, and support was strong across age, party, race and age groups.